The Bell of the Council Tower will announce the New Year?s Day
|
|
The oldest bell from Brasov, with a diameter of 1.20 meters and dating from 1690, will strike the full hour, the half hour and the quarter hour starting from October 16th 2010. This was possible thanks to a project initiated by the German community with the support of the County Council of Brasov. The project?s goal was to restore and put back into service the bell from the Council Tower, after being forgotten for half a century.
Twelve O?clock Sharp
The new mechanism of the bell, purchased from a museum in Germany, was set on at 12 o?clock sharp. The event took place within the eight edition of the Festival ?Musica Coronensis?, followed by the performance of ?turnari? (the people from the tower) who are instrument blowers playing fragments from the music of the Romanians, Saxons and Hungarians from the balcony of the Council?s Tower. There was also a gunshot from the White Tower and a performance of ?Romana? dance, an indoor dance created by Mureseni Family. The mechanism of the clock was done in 1890 by the same company which had also manufactured the old mechanism broken many years ago. The costs reached Lei 16,975 from which Lei 8,400 were given by the County Council of Brasov. The rest were donations from the German community.
133 years of service
Within this context, the head of the County Administration Council said that he planned to start consolidation works for the Council?s Tower building because, in case of an earthquake, it could collapse.
?The new mechanism brought to Brasov has worked for 113 years and for another 17 years it was displayed in a museum. In August 2010, it was brought to Brasov and installed here. It is in good operating condition and all the functions are good. As regards the clock, it has functioned with the old mechanism for 133 years but, due to a certain failure, there was no pendulum. It was ingeniously repaired, but only the clock has worked ever since then, not the bell,? said Mr. Zoltan Boer, who makes sure that the clock is in good operating condition.
Recovering past valuesvAttending the event, the President of the County Council of Brasov, Mr. Aristotel Cancescu said that he would keep supporting this type of actions indented to recover past values. ?We are going to open the Drapers` Bastion which will be introduced in the museum and tourist circuit, thus accomplishing the restoration of the old Fortress. This will be a very challenging investment, as the works are a remake of certain Spanish towers. Then we will be heading our attention towards the monuments in the county, which are equally important and priceless,? said Mr. Aristotel Cancescu.
